An Audemars Piguet Black Panther And A Philippe Dufour Foursome Take The Spotlight In Fall Auctions

Fall watch auctions at Christie’s and Phillips in Affiliation with Bacs & Russo are about to show there’s extra to the collectors’ want listing than Rolex and Patek Philippe. In a present on-line Watches sale (open for bids till September 7) Christie’s Hong Kong division is auctioning a particular version Audemars Piguet Marvel Black Panther flying tourbillon. The watch is one in every of 250 items made, all of which had been bought. A one-off model of the Black Panther was initially created to boost funds for 2 charities, First Guide and Ashoka, and it bought for $5.2-million, making it the costliest Audemars Piguet mannequin ever bought. The one within the present Christie’s sale is estimated at $3-million. The principle function is a hand-painted 3D Black Panther Marvel motion determine that appears able to leap out of the watch. It’s supported by elaborate titanium bridges, and the flange and strap are a dramatic purple colour that had followers both loving or hating the watch.

Collectors of extra conventional fare can be following the November Geneva Watch Public sale XIV sale by Phillips in Affiliation with Bacs & Russo, the place a quartet of watches by Philippe Dufour, the grasp of contemporary watchmaking, are set to go on the block. The watches, consigned by a non-public collector, embrace 4 of Dufour’s masterpieces: the Grande & Petite Sonnerie pocket watch No 1 in yellow gold (estimated at $436,000-$872,152); the Grande & Petite Sonnerie wristwatch number one in yellow gold ($1,090,000-$2,180,000); the Duality in pink gold ($872,152-$1.7-million) and the Simplicity in platinum ($272,581-$545,176). “To us, and to an enormous group all over the world, Philippe Dufour is the horological equal of Michelangelo,” says Phillips. “The significance of his work can’t be overstated.”

Initially, Dufour made a collection of 5 Grande & Petite Sonnerie pocket watch pocket watches for a big model within the early Nineteen Eighties. The truth that the model by no means acknowledged his work led him to create his personal Grand & Petite Sonnerie pocket watch within the late Nineteen Eighties (the No 1). It’s the just one that bears his identify.

The wristwatch model of the Grand Sonnerie was a world premiere. From 1989 to 1992, Dufour labored on miniaturizing his sonnerie motion to wristwatch dimension, producing solely 5 examples with white enamel dials: two cased in white gold, one in yellow and one pink gold, in addition to one in platinum.

Dufour’s inspiration for the Duality got here from pocket watches from the Thirties that had a single gear practice delivering energy to 2 stability wheels by means of a differential (which evens out the ability distribution). Dufour got down to shrink the mechanism to wristwatch dimension, and initially deliberate to provide 25 items. Solely 9 had been made, together with an instance with motion quantity 00, which bought at a Phillips New York public sale in 2017 for near $1-million. The one within the upcoming sale is quantity 8, the final one made, and one in every of solely three pink gold examples.

The Simplicity, created in 2000, is an easy three hand watch with a motion structure designed to display hand end and ornament to its most interesting extent. All of the ornament and meeting are completed by hand on these fashions, of which fewer than a dozen are made in a yr.